Disintegration. The empire created by Charlemagne did not survive long after his death in 814. Only one of his three sons, Louis the Pious, outlived him, and after his death in 840 Louis was succeeded in 843 by his three feuding sons, Charles the Bald, Lothar I, and Louis the German. Their division of the kingdom would form the geographical basis of modern France, the Low Countries, Italy, and Germany, but it also ushered in the eventual end of the Carolingian dynasty. Even if they had not practiced partible inheritance, however, Charlemagne's grandsons and their descendants would have probably found it extremely difficult to put up an effective defense against all the raiders on all of the sides of the kingdom. Spanish Muslim armies continued to harass the borders of the empire across the Pyrenees mountains, while other Muslim forces had begun...